Where's Your Bottom?

Tapping into our unrealized happiness potential requires several key elements. One of these elements is to address, get control of and change our thinking habits. Thinking habits? Indeed, like so much of our behavior, much of our thinking – use of the brain – is routine and habitual. It’s our brain’s way of conserving energy.

Habits – those well worn groves in our brain – are a regular topic in the ‘behaviours we should change’ category. On many levels, we know that certain behaviours are diminishing our happiness, and yet the power of the habit defies our will power and the logic that says we should change.

One of the most dramatic change processes in our society – and one that has a strong track record of success – is what happens when an alcoholic or drug addict ‘hits bottom’ and makes a choice to change. Recovery from any addiction is a convoluted process but it must always start with a ‘bottom’.

Accessing our unrealized ‘happiness potential’ involves hitting your version of the ‘happiness bottom’ and choosing to do something about it.

There are only two motives driving personal change: hope of gain or elimination of pain. Until an individual can see one or the other, sustainable change will not occur.

So…when habits get in the way of increasing our happiness, how do we create an environment for personal change?
A commonly suggested current strategy is mindfulness – a practice which is supported but various forms of meditation. Check out this short TED talk in which mindfulness, meditation, and habit change are elegantly described.

If this makes sense but you need support to move forward, your coach is always an effective resource to turn to.